Rivet gun air pressure

[miyu1975]

I think the air pressure on my tank might be to high. I was having a hard time controling the rivet gun and bucking bar while putting together the practice kit. Made a few ugly dents on the skin (glad it was practice). I looked at the air compressor and it was on like 130psi. I seem to remember some where reading it should be no more than 90. For the external flat head rivets I read in the book the pressure should be low...any one have a number for that??? ie 60psi...??

thx

[lrfrey]

The pressure to use will vary a bit by the individual gun, but you are wayyy too high. I tend to use 45 lb for #3 rivets and 55 lb for # 4 rivets. The general rule is low gun pressure, heavy bucking bar.

Larry

[b17fe]

I set my compressor @ about 80 psi.
You also need a small air valve (swivel) on the end of the gun for fine tuning.
Some of the 470 rivets I use a bit more psi (read gun valve)to set.
For 426 rivets I usually set the gun at it's lowest setting depending on the
length of the rivet and material it's going through.

[miyu1975]

This would explain my problems then.. I have the extra swivel pressure controller on the gun too...but wasn't sure how to use it really. It has numbers 1 - 9... is 1 lower pressure than 9 or the other way around...?

[Don Jones]

.....about rivets and riveting. Dan Checkoway has a terrific site with
all sorts of information. I have been using his pressure settings with excellent results. Here is the link to the rivet page. Pressures are at
the bottom of the page.

http://www.rvproject.com/rivets.html

[b17fe]

Originally Posted by miyu1975

This would explain my problems then.. I have the extra swivel pressure controller on the gun too...but wasn't sure how to use it really. It has numbers 1 - 9... is 1 lower pressure than 9 or the other way around...?

You can take the gun and place the tip on a 2x4 or something (something you don't mind damaging) and adjust
the swivel while you pull the trigger.
Hope this helps.

[JHines]

Originally Posted by miyu1975

I think the air pressure on my tank might be to high. I was having a hard time controling the rivet gun and bucking bar while putting together the practice kit. Made a few ugly dents on the skin (glad it was practice). I looked at the air compressor and it was on like 130psi. I seem to remember some where reading it should be no more than 90. For the external flat head rivets I read in the book the pressure should be low...any one have a number for that??? ie 60psi...??

thx

Does your compressor have gages for both the tank pressure and the regulated pressure? The tank pressure is going to cycle between about 130 and 80 as the tank fills and empties, you can't control that.

If you were getting 130 to the gun then you must have had the regulator set at the maximum. Also if you had it set that high the pressure is going to drop off rapidly as you consume air from the tank - the pressure won't be consistent at the rivet gun.

While useful, you don't really need the little in-line restrictor. Just set your compressor regulator at the pressure you want. Since you can read the regulator gage directly you will know exactly what you're getting.

[RScott]

I find Dan's rivet gun pressures are too high for my gun. I set mine for 35 on 3/16" rivets & 40 for 1/8". Admittedly, my gun hits harder than the typical 3X. The point is, figure out what works best for your gun rather than going with what someone else uses.

[flion]

I've got a Sears compressor; the tank pressure is about 125 but the regulator lets me set line pressure. I found that 25#-35# works well for -3s and 40#-50# works for -4s. The longer the rivet, the higher the pressure.

[airguy]

I'm running about 38-40 psi for my 2X gun on #3 rivets, and about 55-60 on my 3X gun for #4 rivets. I run full pressure on my squeezer.